The National Geographic Education Foundation works to assist teachers to promote the status and quality of geography education. In keeping with that mission they have recently revamped their AP Human Geography page, dividing all their resources according to the 7 major units of the course (in the "tags" section below, I have attempted to do the same):

This article was written by a woman who noticed a lot of changes in Washington D.C. Gentrification led to these many changes, by becoming not as unique and urbanizing at other people's expense. She describes gentrification as remodeling very quickly and ferociously. A lot of the things she says are for the general good of the people, like installing street lights, but don't take into consideration the people who don't appreciate the changes. Stores like walmart are taking over the family owned stores, and more people are moving in.

This article describes gentrification perfectly, and I like her pictures to go along with it. I think this would help introduce this vocab term to new students.

Sadly, gentrification happens all across the world. Poor populations in cities are disadvantaged and often have to move out due to wealthier populations moving in. One of the signs I found most disturbing was that police will start patrolling the areas where wealthier and poorer populations mix. This is a sad reality. Police do this to ensure that crime rates are low as poor people would be more tempted to commit crimes in wealthier neighborhoods. I do think this police patrolling has racist roots since the poorer population in Washington D.C. is mostly black. Words like "renewal" and "redevelopment" hide the sad reality behind gentrification/

I believe this article is very interesting because it shows how gentrification can change a neighborhood. I believe gentrification is a little bit of a negative thing because it adds geographical uniformity to our modern society and yes that could be good thing in measure. The article states now police patrol every street, Walmart's and 7-11's start showing up, areas will start becoming more aesthetically pleasing, but is that really a good thing? I believe that sometimes while you are driving by it is better to have a change in your surrounding, rather than seeing the same thing over and over again even if it is more modern.

I would say. Just imagine three mega cities like Rio de Janeiro, population 11,960,000 then Buenos Aires with a population of 13,530,000 and finally Sao Paulo with the Southern Hemisphere's largest metropolitan area with a population of 19,920,000 with 2 more Mega cities to be added by 2025.

I cannot believed the size of Brazil is at this scale because we don't hear a lot about it as being a world power. It shows that even though the country is this big, most of the land is uninhabitable due to the forests and geography of the land. In addition, from history class one cannot imagine a small country like Portugal controlled a big country as Brazil from the colonial times. Seeing this map with all these European countries inside of it with some space leftover, one can see the massive size of this South American country.

This link to show me a picture of Europe fitting in Brazil is astounding! I never realized how large this country was until it was put together like a puzzle for me. For a single country to be that large that you would be able to fit an entire continent inside is absurd. That really goes to show that looks can be deceiving.

As the main producer of certain crops and hogs, the state of Indiana has been chosen by Coca-Cola to spearhead a new innovative project regarding an improved flavor of milk in the future. Indiana’s prime location and abundance of raw materials positively contributed to the decision to establish the project’s headquarters in this state. As a result, it is expected that this innovation will boost Indiana’s economy and create for jobs and advancements in technology. This project allows Coca-Cola the opportunity to expand its brand and offer healthier beverage options to the consumer.

This article is about how coco cola is going into the milk business. There source for milk is from Fair Oaks Farm. This dairy is Americas one and only dairy theme park. I think this would be an example of large scale commercial agriculture and agribusiness.

Summary- Hundreds of churches around Europe are being closed and sold to other people. This is due to the lack of membership coming from the people that used to go there. People are turning these churches into various things such as skateparks. I think this is a very disrespectful act, turning a place of worship into a place to destroy.

Insight- In Unit 3 religion is a big part. From this article, we can ask ourselves why the memberships of churches are declining. Do be just not care anymore? Are people moving away? Although the answer is no stated in this article, I think people there are just not as devoted to church as they used to be.

Europe’s Empty churches going on sale is not upsetting to me, unless they are being used as skateboard parks. The main reason to the church’s closings are a rise in secular beliefs. With less people attending and making tributes to the churches they are given no choice but to shut down. These are buildings of great archaic integrity and I think that they should be sold to museums or to state governments as holy sites or something to that effect. These buildings should be preserved because they are a giant standing living history of this world. But as of now skate ramps and parks occupy these churches and may be damaging them.

Empty buildings now turned into just churches used for fun, or by the picture skateboarding. Europe is always known as the power house especially during their colonial period, when they colonized Africa and brought some of their religious beliefs towards the Africans. Europe is filled with big catholic traditions tracing back to the past, but now with this going on its a very sad state seeing something so significant in history in the European community go to waste..

Partly just because I love this highly quotable movie with an incredible soundtrack, but this short clip from O Brother Where Art Thou? can start be a good conversation starter. I'm hoping to use it when discussing relative location (or isolation) as well as the time-space compression. Frequently, I ask my student how far away they live from campus and invariably they answer with a unit of time (even though distance was implied in the question).

Questions to Ponder: Why do we often answer with a measurement of time when discussing distance? What technologies are dependent on our temporal analysis of distance? How would our perception of distance change based on our access to transportation and communication technologies?

Yes, these globes are precise archives filled with geospatial data and locational information--however, that pales in comparison to the artistic brilliance of the globes. These hand-crafted globes are truly works of art. Marvel at the merger of mathematical precision and artistic design that makes a globe such as these a cartographic gem. If anybody want to get me a Christmas present, you know that I love cartographic gifts.

"The position [that belief in God is essential to morality] is highly prevalent, if not universal, in Africa and the Middle East. At least three-quarters in all six countries surveyed in Africa say that faith in God is essential to morality. People in richer nations tend to place less emphasis on the need to believe in God to have good values than people in poorer countries do."

It would make sense that Indonesia is one of the most religious countries in the world being that it has the highest Muslim population. Also, I never thought of Europe as being religious countries which is why I am not surprised that 70% of Europe does not believe that the belief in God needs to be moral. Another reason why I am not surprised is because they are more popular for their ethnic groups such as the french group, italian group and german group. Also, they don't have focused religions. For example, Buddhism was originated in Nepal and worshipped mostly in China, Hinduism was originated in India, Jewish was originated in Israel and Islam was originated in Saudi Arabia and it's practiced mostly in Indonesia and Pakistan. That explains why most parts of Asia (at least southern Asia) has practices specific religions.

Summary- This figure explains the relationship between regions and their morality based on a God. It is evident what in North America is is almost a 50 50 tie between between believing in god is essential for morality. Only is Europe does God seem less important than the rest of the world. There are other countries such as Chile, Argentina, or Australia that have these same beliefs, but for the most part, most countries see a believe in God as an essential to morality.

Insight- In unit 3 we study the distributions of many things, religion included. Why do so many poorer countries have a stronger faith in God than wealthier ones? It may be because if their ethnic backgrounds, but I think there is more to it. I think when a country is poorer, more people reach out to their God for help. I also think that in wealthier countries there are distractions from religion such as video games and other mass produced technologies that get in the way of people researching their faith.

Unit 3: This article shows the relationship between regions and their morality based on a God. It is evident what in North America is is almost a 50 50 tie between between believing in god is essential for morality. There are other countries such as Chile, Argentina, or Australia that have these same beliefs, but for the most part, most countries see a believe in God as an essential to morality.

After viewing this video, I found one common characteristic that ties together the countries involved in all of these border disputes: hunger for power. Although culture and sacred lands do cause border disputes, I believe the underlying purpose of claiming land for cultural reasons is to demonstrate power. Claiming lands for cultural purposes demonstrates that one's culture is superior to the other's culture, so naturally the more powerful culture gets to claim territory. On another note, I think it's interesting to see just how many enclaves and exclaves exist in the world. I did not know how many existed until I saw the video. I think this shows how insignificant these border anomalies are because these exclaves are usually just governed by the other country by which they are surrounded.

Borders seem to be a problem whether you live in one continent or another, everyone wants power and control but not everyone can gain it. This video focuses and goes into depth about enclave and exclave borders, showing the irregularity of the borders in different areas that causes conflicts and problems. An example of a problem that the citizens have to deal with is that some villages can not leave due to the road blocks due to the borders. I can not imagine not being able to leave a certain area for all that time, I would go insane and I imagine those people are as well. International borders power has to be split somehow and not everyone can always come to an easy decision because parts of the land are claimed but the people do not have any control of it. Irregular borders cause more trouble than they are worth in my opinion. The final interesting fact about this video was that you learn that Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are the two locations that have the most irregular border, these places must have the most conflict and problems. These borders are in places such as Germany, South Asia, China, Belgian, Sweden and Central Asia.

A fascinating look into the complexity of borders. It is always important to keep in mind when looking at maps that the borders are neither permanent or defined as it exists in reality. Borders on world maps are rough estimations of what the borders actually are for they can't depict precise details on such a large scale. Furthermore regional/local maps sometimes do not whether as to conform to the border misconception unfortunately. In Central Asia as defined int he video the border were primarily a result of the Soviet Unions attempts to divided ethnic minorities reducing their power (primarily Stalin). As a result the countries after the collapse proceeded to claim the ethnic groups which created enclaves within each-other. As long as these groups are on peaceful terms this kind of thing isn't an issue. Unfortunately it does make the peoples lives in the enclaves slightly more difficult due to having to cross the border twice to see the rest of your country. This kind of thing was even done to the Jews in the first century AD who like the Russians wanted to eliminate or at least reduce attempts at revolution by the local populace. Hopefully Central Asia has or will make the lives of these enclaves easier.

Don’t Panic – is a one-hour long documentary broadcasted on BBC on the 7th of November 2013.

The visualizations are based on original graphics and stories by Gapminder and the underlaying data-sources are listed here. Hans’s — “All time favorite graph”, is an animating bubble chart linking health and wealth which you can interact with online here and download offline here.

Although this is a very long video, it provides extremely important facts about the explosion of population growth, the history and background behind it all, countries and states at risk, already occurring issues and possible solutions to these rising problems. - UNIT 2

Population growth in an important topic that is connected to economic development. If you've seen Hans Roslings TED talks, this is an hour-long version of many of the same concepts and data visualizations. His Gapminder data visualization tool, it is a must see for geography teachers to show the connections between population statistics and developmental patterns--let students see the data. This is an article that looks at a different factor, arguing that overpopulation isn't the real issue.

Don’t Panic – is a one-hour long documentary broadcasted on BBC on the 7th of November 2013.

The visualizations are based on original graphics and stories by Gapminder and the underlaying data-sources are listed here. Hans’s — “All time favorite graph”, is an animating bubble chart linking health and wealth which you can interact with online here and download offline here.

Although this is a very long video, it provides extremely important facts about the explosion of population growth, the history and background behind it all, countries and states at risk, already occurring issues and possible solutions to these rising problems. - UNIT 2

Population growth in an important topic that is connected to economic development. If you've seen Hans Roslings TED talks, this is an hour-long version of many of the same concepts and data visualizations. His Gapminder data visualization tool, it is a must see for geography teachers to show the connections between population statistics and developmental patterns--let students see the data. This is an article that looks at a different factor, arguing that overpopulation isn't the real issue.

"For months, publishing giant HarperCollins has been selling an atlas it says was developed specifically for schools in the Middle East. It trumpets the work as providing students an 'in-depth coverage of the region and its issues. Its stated goals include helping kids understand the 'relationship between the social and physical environment, the region’s challenges [and] its socio-economic development.' Nice goals. But there’s one problem: Israel is missing."

In other words, Israel got eliminated from this atlas that was designed to cater to Middle Eastern countries that take umbrage with the fact that Israel...exists. Making maps always has political overtones and the company is now realizing that you can't please everyone with different versions for distinct audiences. Now, HarperCollins has pulled the book and will pulp all remaining versions of the atlas.

"There’s no denying that the Amish are fascinating to the rest of us ("the English," in Amish terms). We buy their furniture and jam, and may occasionally spot their buggies when driving on country roads through America’s heartland. Many may not realize, however, that though the Amish make up only a tiny percentage of Americans (less than 0.1 percent), the Amish population has grown enormously since the early 1960s, with much of the increase occurring in the last two decades."

This article relates to our chapter in class because it is about the Amish and their culture. I think it is very cool that there are still so many Amish today, found in 30 U.S states! I am jealous that the Amish children only have to be in school until age 14 though. The culture interests me.

This article shows the religious culture of the Amish people. Lately their religion has been spreading throughout about 30 states. The article give quick but precise description of the Amish lifestyle.

I found this video to be incredibly interesting. I am moderately fluent in Portuguese, and comparing the language with English has always left me with an incredible fascination with human languages in general. As uniquely complex as each language we speak today has become, it is always interesting to see similarities in pronunciation, grammar, and syntax between two languages we would never associate with each other; the other day, I was reading about the influences of French on the Anglo-saxon language structures we see today in modern English (it is believed that all native English speakers already know up to 15,000 words in French as well, all the result of French influences in the English royal court for hundreds of years). Seeing the word "sta" be manifested in so many different language groups- Germanic, Slavic, and Persian- is mind blowing when one considers how much time has passed since the word was first used. With many Americans today harboring numerous xenophobic and racist views concerning everything they perceive to be "other," it's nice to be reminded that, for all our differences, we are a lot more alike than many of us would like to admit.

it's interesting that a word that originated in one country half a world away influenced our entire nation, in the form of the name we took, and almost every nation on earth through the influence of language.

A very interesting little video. While I was already aware that the -stan at the end of the Central Asia state names meant country. What I found fascinating is how it derives from the term for field and standing thus being in or of a place. I also found it interesting how it brings up the other historical -stans but it failed to show Kurdistan for some reason because that is closer to becoming a reality than most of the others. The video unfortunately became difficult to follow for me at least after a while doing all the linguistic tracing to English and other indo-european languages to effectively say Canada and terms like homestead are similar if not the same type of thing as -stan. The Pakistan segments was interesting for simply learning what the first half of the nations name was. Lastly it should be observed that culturally and geographically the term 0stan seems to be in the Middle East/Central Asia and reference steppe decent cultures. Hopefully if a followup video is ever made it will clarify on these things a bit more and discuss Kurdistan which it left out.

Yes, these globes are precise archives filled with geospatial data and locational information--however, that pales in comparison to the artistic brilliance of the globes. These hand-crafted globes are truly works of art. Marvel at the merger of mathematical precision and artistic design that makes a globe such as these a cartographic gem. If anybody want to get me a Christmas present, you know that I love cartographic gifts.

"Prior to the 1960’s, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake and approximately the size of Ireland. Fed by both the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers carrying snowmelt from the mountains to the southeast, the Aral Sea moderated the climate and provided a robust fishing industry that straddled the present-day border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. For the map savvy, that Aral Sea would be almost unrecognizable—it has long appeared as two basins known as the North and the South Aral Sea since the rivers were diverted for crops, leading to the Aral Sea’s alarming shrinkage. Recent NASA satellite imagery shows the decline that the Aral Sea has undergone since 2000, leaving the South Aral Sea completely dried up in 2014. "

Both this podcast and its title are very interesting. Describing the Aral Sea crisis as a "Quiet Chernobyl" highlights the seriousness of what has happened to the Aral Sea over the previous decades. Though the Aral Sea was not the site of a catastrophic nuclear meltdown, what has happened there is just as harmful to the environment and the population in the surrounding area. The difference between what happened with the Aral Sea and what happened at Chernobyl, however, is that the Aral Sea crisis was avoidable. Chernobyl was an accident, the Aral Sea was not. The warnings of what was to come were clearly present at the Aral Sea, but they were ignored.

This shows how the balance between man and nature is a precarious one that must be monitored closely and heeded constantly. As an oasis in one of the world's driest deserts, the Aral Sea had vast amounts of potential to help facilitate farming and generally help to make life in the area possible. People saw this potential and made use of it. This was not wrong in and of itself. What was wrong was that this potential was overused, with no regards for the long-term effects that it would have on the ecosystem, the climate, and the way of life in the region. The natural geography of a place is very important and can be used by human beings to achieve great things, but as soon as we stop caring about sustainability and future generations, those tools fail and disappear, causing long-term problems that can never be fixed.

The Aral Sea is just one example of an alarming trend happening worldwide, as ill-advised irrigation efforts continue to distort natural geographical formations, climate, and ecosystems. The loss of the Aral is damaging on so many fronts; the loss of an entire ecosystem within its waters, the damages done to the surrounding ecosystems as a result of climate changes and reduction in the food chain directly related to the Sea's disappearance, and the economic repercussions for the people who live in the region. Once a bustling maritime community of trade, the region now lies dormant, the economic realities for the people who once relied on the Sea's waters as dire as the land is dry. Ship hulls line the ground like animal carcasses, the remains of centuries of human life- a stark reminder that man often takes his power too far, too fast. With other large bodies of water facing the same fate in other regions, it is best hoped that the Aral and its ghost crews that now dominate the landscape serve as a reminder to human civilization that, for all our advances, we cannot play "God" and face no consequences.

Can we all agree that a 522 year apology is outdated? Honestly, Karavani, a citizen of Israel who benefits from the new policy, summarized my reaction to this when he stated, “I don't think that anybody owes me anything — definitely [not] if it happened 500 years ago.” The people involved in this situation are dead five times over at least. I think it is time to move on and if you can’t, then you have bigger issues in your life. Personally, it would make more sense for the government to remember past mistakes and learn from them by applying knowledge of discrimination to any issues of discrimination that is currently happening in the country.

I kept wondering if giving citizenship so many years later would actually be seen as a justice apology. The citizens aren’t being recognized as Jews. Plus the expense being incurred to even take the test sounds unpleasant given some of the complaints mentioned in the article. I didn’t realize that a large amount of the Israel population would actually leave for Europe. Upon realizing this, I found the trend to be amazing in a world where increased immigration is normally seen in a negative light for the nation who is welcoming the immigrants. Never did I realize that a member of Israel would view it as “a European way — to destroy this country.” I do doubt that was there intent as there are far more effective way to destroy a nation. Yet, when someone is losing a large amount of their population (some of whom speak an almost dead language) I can see how the statement was made. I guess this member of the Israeli population would be considered a person against globalization in this instance.

Leaving Israel isn’t a bad decision though. Given the instability in Israel, I think it is great that more immigrants can go someplace else. Furthermore, I think it provides a fantastic opportunity to people, like Karavani, who want better jobs. While it might be sad to see such drastic change for Levy, people can study like his cousin and keep their heritage. The world is a bigger place now that is easily traversed. I think people needed to realize there is no longer one absolute location to live and that isn’t the end of the world. It is just a new way of life.

Summary- After almost 550 years, Spain is finally allowing decedents of expelled Jew citizenship. In 1492 Jews were forced to convert, be killed, or flee Spain. A law now grants the Jews descendants citizenship under a draft law by the Spanish Government.

Insight- As explorers of religion in this unit, we ask out selves: Why were the Jews expelled and now let back in so long after? The expulsion was caused by the Spanish Inquisition, a goal to maintain catholic orthodox in spanish kingdoms forcing all Jews out. They are finally let back in after Spain realized that there is now no reason to keep other people out.

Last year, Julie and I wrote this article for Maps 101 (which was also created into a podcast) about the historical and geographic significance of Dr. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement. Martin Luther King fought racial segregation, which, if you think about it, is a geographic system of oppression that uses space and place to control populations. Derek Alderman and Jerry Mitchell, excellent educators and researchers, produced lesson plans to help students investigate the politics behind place naming, specifically using the case study of the many streets named after Martin Luther King.

Questions to Ponder: Why are streets named after Martin Luther King found in certain places and not in others? What forces and decisions likely drive these patterns? What is the historical legacy of Martin Luther King and how is it a part of certain cultural landscapes?

I'm a sucker for online quizzes like this one that shows only the grid outlines of particular cities. This isn't just about knowing a city, but also identifying regional and urban patterns. What are some other fun trivia quizzes? GeoGuessr is one of the more addictive quizzes where 5 locations in GoogleMaps "StreetView" are shown and you have to guess where. Smarty Pins is a fun game on Google Maps that tests players' geography and trivia skills. In this Starbucks game you have to recognized the shape of the city, major street patterns and the economic patterns just to name a few (this is one way to make the urban model more relevant). If you want quizzes with more direct applicability in the classroom, click here for online regional quizzes.

Also inspiring was Marco Silva's presentation that introduced his view on useful uses of computer and the internet in education separating distance learning from online (or networked) learning. This idea goes side by side with ...

Also inspiring was Marco Silva's presentation that introduced his view on useful uses of computer and the internet in education separating distance learning from online (or networked) learning. This idea goes side by side with ...

Where you live is important. It can dictate quality of schools and hospitals, as well as things like cancer rates, unemployment, or whether the city repairs roads in your neighborhood. On this week's show, stories about destiny by address.

This hour-long podcast addresses some has key issues in urban geography by exploring the history of redlining, the Fair Housing Act and other fair housing initiatives. The urban cultural mosaic of the United States and the neighborhoods of our cities have been greatly shaped by these issues. Currently gentrification is reshaping many U.S. cities and fits into the wider scope of the issues raised in the podcast.

this podcast can gives us insight into other peoples experiences and decision making processes in choosing were to live and how that effects life for them. Depending on where we live rent may be cheaper but also living conditions and employment may not be all that great. Gentrification or community improvement also shows us, this renovating process helps change our old neighborhoods and tries to create better places for people to life, it speaks about fair housing and the various experiences that people have in the American way of living.

The end of Soverign nation states has alot to do with how interact with other states into a more integrated regional economy. The global community is realizing its importance of woking together to mazimize on trade and technology building as an economic world effort. This would blur the lines of independent soverign countires and bring regions together for economic puprposes even redrawing regional lines. Cities want more autonomy on responding to urbanization and move more away from being identified as a nation state. It is the desire to listen less to what washington has to say and act more as an independent state which makes more decisons with the regions around it to mazimize on rapid city growth and the money making opportunities that a re created from a rapidly changing global community.

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